1. One of our office 'macchas' had his birthday. The first Birthday celebration at work, here since I ve joined. Pretty much similar to an office birthday celebration in NYC, except of course there's just one small cake and 50 mouths to feed :) But then again, unlike in the US, there's one cake per person, per birthday. Something I never encountered in an NYC office.
And No, we didnt sing Happy Birthday in Tamil!
2. The L&T yearly appraisals and promotions were announced this week. Turns out most people I know in the company, received anywhere from Rs.5000 to Rs.1,50,000 as their yearly bonus. Quite a few even got promoted to the next rung in what seems like a rather long corporate ladder. All in all, this year, L&T has spent more than what they did last year, in bonuses/ appraisals and pay raises. Way to go Recession!
3. I lead a team comprising of three people at work; one of whom is also called 'Amit'. In a hilarious event in the past, when asked "How is Amit?" in my first week here, I had gone on to almost respond "He is fine. He is in NYC and missing me a lot." when I realised the Amit in question, was the team member.
In a similar situation last week, yet again I was asked "How is Amit?", to which my confident answer was "He's doing good. Learning well and even understands the project better than most people here." The co-worker/ friend who had posed the question, looked around somewhat confused, when I realised he was inquiring about the husband 'Amit' :)
4. Amit the team member, refers to me as "Sweetest Boss"; a title I am much flattered by. Apparently he has'nt had "bosses" that have been fun in the past, or so it seems. Amit, the husband as always has the last line in the situation; "Oh, so even in Mumbai you're Amit's boss, are you?"
:)
5. Wednesday night, being the gym-free night, calls for fun mid-week plans. This week, Wednesday was spent shopping around Bandra before meeting up with Deepti (architecture undergrad friend) for dinner at '5 Spice'.
3. I lead a team comprising of three people at work; one of whom is also called 'Amit'. In a hilarious event in the past, when asked "How is Amit?" in my first week here, I had gone on to almost respond "He is fine. He is in NYC and missing me a lot." when I realised the Amit in question, was the team member.
In a similar situation last week, yet again I was asked "How is Amit?", to which my confident answer was "He's doing good. Learning well and even understands the project better than most people here." The co-worker/ friend who had posed the question, looked around somewhat confused, when I realised he was inquiring about the husband 'Amit' :)
4. Amit the team member, refers to me as "Sweetest Boss"; a title I am much flattered by. Apparently he has'nt had "bosses" that have been fun in the past, or so it seems. Amit, the husband as always has the last line in the situation; "Oh, so even in Mumbai you're Amit's boss, are you?"
:)
5. Wednesday night, being the gym-free night, calls for fun mid-week plans. This week, Wednesday was spent shopping around Bandra before meeting up with Deepti (architecture undergrad friend) for dinner at '5 Spice'.
'5 Spice' is a typical three-storeyed huge Chinese restaurant straight out of Chinatown. Each portion serves the entire table, so between the two of us, we had a tough time downing the spread of 5-Spice soup, chicken wrapped in fried noodles and spicy shrimp in garlic sauce with the regular kim-chi that adorns the tables of most Chinese restaurants in the city nowadays. Drinks were Sula Chantilly and Kingfisher pints! A lot to eat, over lots to chat and talk about, since the two of us were meeting after 3 years.
6. Cho, the comic Korean co-worker from NYC, landed for his last month-long trip, this week. He brings with him, hilarious day to day incidents that involve the cafetaria's Indian food and his grumpy face each time he eats there. He also brings with him loads of Korean food; canned kim-chi and udon, in the hope that it lasts him through his stay here.
6. Cho, the comic Korean co-worker from NYC, landed for his last month-long trip, this week. He brings with him, hilarious day to day incidents that involve the cafetaria's Indian food and his grumpy face each time he eats there. He also brings with him loads of Korean food; canned kim-chi and udon, in the hope that it lasts him through his stay here.
7. At work, an 'employee notice' that seems to pop up every 10 days describes, to my utter shock, what women and men should wear to work. I know most companies like to regulate the office attire but didnt know this one said "Women - Salwar kameez's or chudidaar kurtas' with tightly pinned duppattas" That, thankfully, no one actually pays attention to these notices, is of course another story!
8. Saturday was to be the first submission of my assignment here. So the team and I, spent the entire day pulling together last minute details to put together our package, for the Joinery Details of the first phase of the Airport. And Saturday evening, we all slumped down in our chairs, breathing sighs of relief, at 7:30 pm when the package had been waved good-bye and sent out for QA/QC.
My first ever team-led package sent out. Truly, a great feeling.
An integral aspect of the Airport, can now say it was designed/ planned by your's truly :)
9. Sarika (good friend and ex-colleague from NY) was in town, for some of her meetings with prospective developers and clients. I invited her over at the office, for a "L&T lunch". It was fun to catch up over pav-bhaji (Saturday lunch special) while reminiscing about how we pined for food like this everyday in NY, at work.
Kashyap, (another Architect-friend from NY) was also in town and although we couldnt meet, we did catch up over the phone. Two more friends from NY are expected to be here, in Mumbai, in the next few weeks.
I always looked at NY as this great centre point, where everyone converged atleast once and so just by living there, I got to meet them all. Mumbai, now, seems to have become the new centre-point, somehow.
10. We work at L&T's Project Site-office; closer to the site (in our case the International Airport), nice and green, has a more earthy feel to it. A snail in the ladies room, a rat on a colleague's desk (who thankfully sits far far away) are then just part of the deal, I guess. Reminds me of my Auroville days, when we would pee on frogs (by mistake, obviously) and shower with squirrels.
11. Two more cakes and lots of magic candles at work, for a birthday boy and a new groom-to-be. I think I really like L&T's staple employee benefits; housing, transportation, food and birthday cake for each employee.
In the list above, I have yet to add the various allowances offered; children's school fee allowances, leave travel allowances and of course multiple vacation/ sick and personal days off. Makes it very hard to rationalise the US working system somehow.
12. Saturday night was to be another carbo-loading exercise. So after a lot of back-and-forth between Indian/ Chinese/ Italian cuisines, Snehi and Atit gave in to my pasta-dinner demand. Snehi, at her restaurant-picking best, went on to pick Shatranj Napoli, which serves Pasta and Indian as well, so everyone could eat what they wanted.
Signature, in Four Bungalows is now Shatranj-Napoli; nicely done up, with the quintessential semi-outdoor space and a bare light-coloured wooden, farm kind of feel. The waiter tried to stop me from taking pictures, thinking I was press, armed with my D-80. Took some yelling to convince him that I was just a regular customer, here to eat with my friends and taking pictures while I waited for them to arrive. Ignorance is not always bliss!
Dinner started with a foccacia bread recommendation made by the waiter, instead of the garlic bread that Snehi wanted to have. The Foccacia arrived looking more like a pizza base with herbs sprinkled on it. Two types of pastas with heavy sauces and a thin crust pizza was our dinner for the night. And of course, no matter what the meal, it always has to end with a 'meetha paan'.
Atit's generous self, offered 'Rakhi ka swayamwar' tickets to me and Snehi. While I was a little skeptical about scarring my public profile, by being seen at such a hideous event, Snehi was pretty sure, it was very beneath her, to attend. So the plan was shelved.
Post Dinner, we gave Atit the boot, so we could take a leisurely walk back home, where he would meet us with the car.
A different sort of an evening, this one, with Ira missing. A family I am definitely going to miss, when I am back in NY.
13. Sunday started with the last 11 miler before the Half Marathon. The race is now only a few days away and I cant imagine, how it will be to run it outdoors, with all my training for it having been done indoors. I can only hope the weather is blissful and cool, which will be a big help.
Sunday lunch was with Mum and Pops, eating Mommy-made food after ages. Post lunch chattering away and catching up with the folks continued for hours, after which I was off for a massage and a haircut :) More a re-style than a cut, this one. Say my team mates at work "Makes you look even more like a 'Madam'" I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
"The only Indian food I am craving now is paani puri, frankie and butta" I told Mom.
Mom, who's never been a big promoter of 'outside' food suggested we do all of the above for dinner. So after 'shaam ki chai' (evening tea) we were off to Chandru's for paani puri and then Tibb's frankie. Soon it was time to go home, since everyone had been talking about 'Rakhi ka Swayamwar' and I didnt want to miss it, since it would ensure complete entertainment and lots of laughter. So the rest of Sunday was spent packing a little for next weekend while watching Rakhi's prospectives and their families making fools of themselves on National TV.
14. A friend called Sunday night saying "Happy Friendship Day" to which I retorted with a "What?" which probably offended her. To add to the damage I even said "You actually believe in all this?".
I think she probably gave up on me that night when she said "Ok, chal bye" right away!
Week 9 was spent having fun and not shooting it as much, hence the lesser number of pictures :
Take care, be well and have fun while I go back to another deadline and some more printing to be done. A week away from the Euro-trip and not feeling like I am going on vacation at all, atleast as yet!
Love,
Shweyta
1 comment:
Nice blog.
Post a Comment